Valence Th'Al'Din
Valence is a former Malhashyn who escaped his servitude in his late teens. Unlike most of his order, his skills with the Arcane arts are almost completely nonexistent, instead relying on slight of hand, misdirection, and a keen understanding of the "human" psyche to achieve his desired results. Early Life Valence began his career unlike most in the Malhashyn. As a young boy, he would watch street vendors and performers in Sokoru, studying and mimicking their abilities, up to, and including, their cheats and cons. These things came easily to him, and with little else to do in the poorest of commoner districts in his hometown, these abilities became quite well practiced. By the age of ten he was running three card monte, cheating at cards and dice, pulling small time burglaries, and being a better tax collector at public gatherings than the duly appointed collectors themselves. Becoming a Malhashyn At the age of thirteen, Valence had moved up to bigger scams, such as art theft, forgery, illegal casinos, an unsubstantiated rumor of counterfeiting Azure silk and high profile B&E. His largest con, however, was perpetrated on the Seketti slave market. Utilizing street thieves, Valence would put these people up for sale through an intermediary seller, nudge their purchases to the right people, set them up to rob their buyers blind, and make their escape. With a portion of the take, he would use disguise or hired magic to change their appearances, only to do it all over again. This went well for almost 2 years, before one of the crew was purchased to serve a visiting Maltharian noblewoman. When the plan for the theft went south, Valence stepped in personally to commit the burglary. Valence was stopped by one of the Noblewoman's retinue, a Malhashyn under the cover as a valet, and was nearly killed before he could make his escape via rooftops through the well patrolled and well lit district of the wealthy. The daring burglary and escape piqued the Malhashyn's curiosity, and after some searching, the man found Valence. There, the boy was given the chance, train as an assassin, or die in the gutters. Unbecoming of a Malhashyn By the age of twenty, it was plainly clear that killing people for someone else was considerably more dangerous and less lucrative than high society crime. Because of this, Valence dedicated a good portion of his next two years in developing contacts throughout the North Marches who could help him "Die" while on assignment. At the cost of two years of time and study, an entire fortune's worth of fabricated identity and lineage, a falsified reputation of another Assassin, and some magical facial alteration of his own, Valence was able to slip into life in Thornhaven as a prodigal native, born abroad, and returning to his roots. Equipment Unable to grow comfortable with most weapons in general, Valence still clings to the tools of his former profession. Holding to the 4 P's, Valence, even when not expecting trouble, will have several small darts and lancets concealed on his person, many of which are polluted with his own home brew paralytics or sedatives. In addition, minor tools such as lockpicks, chalk, a small mirror, and other sundries are always carried on his person, as well as some exotic goods such as rare aphrodisiacs, chewy fruit flavored candy, and a wand of Prestidigitation with the effect specifically keyed to the cleaning application. When expecting conflict, Valence wears blackened studded leather armor, but otherwise keeps to austere, but well cut, clothing, preferring the look of a Courtier or Fencer, preferring hooded cloaks. He is never without a (weighted) sash, a trait picked up from Gypsies, and keeps several small coin pouches on his person. Category:Character/Human Category:Character/Rogue Category:Character/Thornhaven Category:Character/Sokoru